Reading the Future: Philosopher's Stone
by jellybellybean101
Summary: Yet another Marauders and lily read Potter: James and Sirius find the Harry Potter series in the Library. The Marauders and Lily, secretly are all curious about the possible relation to their own Potter. But they'll soon wish they left this book alone.
1. Chapter 1

**Reading the Future: The Philosopher's Stone**

_Summary: While sneaking around the Restricted Section of the library in the dead of night, James and Sirius find a book- a book that, seemingly, was part of a series featuring Harry Potter and his many adventures! All four of the Marauders are curious to the possible relation to their very own Potter- and so they read, with Lily Evans joining in, albeit disapprovingly ("You were in the RESTRICTED Section without permission- hmph! It's a miracle I'm not telling!"). Here is the story._

_(There's some milestones that every writer has to hit, and here's one of them in the Harry Potter fandom. A 'characters read the books.' DEFINETELY not new.)_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. The words in bold (and there are rather more of those, it seems, than of my own-) come from the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It was written by J.K Rowling, and so was the whole idea of the world. So lay off._

CHAPTER ONE- the Find

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was the dead of night, and the Marauders were, not surprisingly, not in bed. They were, in fact, wandering around the castle under James's invisibility cloak.

"Prongs, I really think we're getting too big to all fit under the cloak anymore," Remus Lupin observed, as the four friends struggled along towards the library, all of them hunching except for tiny Peter Pettigrew.

"Oh, shut up, Moony," Sirius Black laughed quietly. "We're fine! No, do you wanna find the book or not?"

"Yeah, sure I do," 'Moony' grumbled, "But one day we're gonna get caught."

The book in question was a strange one, which James and Sirius had discovered in the Restricted Section of the Library a fortnight ago.

Remus, fed up of all the whining and questioning about the novel the two boys had done, directed James and Sirius to show it to him and Peter.

"What was so weird about the book?" Peter asked, for the tenth time.

Exasperated that his friends weren't as excited about the book as he was, Sirius replied in annoyance. "I've _told_ you a million times, it's from the future!"

_The two boys were creeping along silently, the only noise in the deserted library the sound of their Invisibility Cloak fluttering in the breeze of an open window. _

"_Now, Padfoot," one boy instructed, "We're looking for __Moste Potente Potions__. Remus said the Polyjuice Potion would be in there."_

"_I know!" Padfoot hissed back. "I'm looking!" They fell silent once more, searching for the heavy tome. After several minutes of searching, Padfoot cried out._

"_Prongs! James! I found something! Come here!" _

_James bent to where Padfoot was pointing, the bottommost shelf. There sat a row of seven books, their titles all beginning with 'Harry Potter and the.' _

"_Do you know him, James? Maybe you're related. A great-great-something or other," the boy nicknamed Padfoot questioned quietly. _

"_Nah, never heard of him. But we're supposed to be looking for the other book, remember? We're going to try to get into the girls' dormitory, or sneak into the Slytherin common room. We can do tons of pranks with this book!" James replied._

"_But, Prongs! Come on, let's just check it out!" _

_James complied to his friend's pleas, and snatched the first book, __Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone__, from the shelf. He flipped through it, murmuring to himself. _

_Padfoot grabbed it, and looked at the very front. "Copyright 1997," he whispered. "_1997_!" He dropped the book, and glanced at his friend with questioning eyes. _

"_A book from the future?" They asked together?_

_But the sound of the old caretaker, Apollyon Pringle, distracted them. "There's someone in here!" he growled. "I heard voices!" _

_The two boys scrambled into silent action, flinging the book back onto the shelf, then racing quietly back to Gryffindor Tower, where the other half of the Marauders were waiting._

"And that's the story," Sirius declared. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. Quiet! We're almost there!"

They continued along quietly, Sirius whining about how "Moony wouldn't let him turn Snivellus's hair hot pink."

James, on the other hand, was boring them with his nonstop chatter about how wonderful Lily Evans was.

When they reached the library, Sirius directed the group to the correct shelf. "It's here! It's here!" he whispered excitedly.

Remus bent down and snagged the book. "Well, the character on the cover does look like you, Prongs," he reasoned.

"Well then, let's read it! I want to know about this mysterious relative of mine!" James whispered gleefully, like a child in a candy shop.

Only Peter objected. "Wh-what if it's something bad? Like, a curse or something? Or the future?"

"Wormtail, don't be such a wimp," Padfoot advised, punching his friend's shoulder lightly. Peter looked down sadly.

The Marauders, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, traipsed back to the common room. "Mimblewimble," Remus whispered to the Fat Lady, who looked at them reprovingly, and the portrait swung open.

Clambering inside, they were met with the sight of Lily Evans, her arms crossed. She glared at them furiously, and shrieked, "The nerve! I should tell on you, wandering the castle at night! Do you want Gryffindor to lose the House Cup?"

No one answered. Sirius and James were smirking, Peter shrinking behind his friends.

"And you," Lily cried, rounding on Remus. "A prefect! I thought you would rise above such antics, but evidently I was wrong." She sniffed, and Remus shot her a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, Yeah, sorry Evans," James began, running a hand through his hair. "But look what we found! A book from the future! We're gonna read it. Care to join?" He tossed it to Lily, who examined it thoroughly before settling on a red squashy armchair.

"You got it from the Restricted Section? It's a miracle I'm agreeing to this!" She said to the Marauders' questioning stares. "Let's see if there's a nice Potter out there."

The boys shrugged, then joined Lily. Remus took the other armchair, leaving James and Sirius the scarlet sofa and Peter the floor, gazing up at them all anxiously.

"**Chapter One**," Remus began, **"The Boy Who Lived."**


	2. I'm Dead?

**Reading the Future: The Philosopher's Stone**

_Summary: While sneaking around the Restricted Section of the library in the dead of night, James and Sirius find a book- a book that, seemingly, was part of a series featuring Harry Potter and his many adventures! All four of the Marauders are curious to the possible relation to their very own Potter- and so they read, with Lily Evans joining in, albeit disapprovingly ("You were in the RESTRICTED Section without permission- hmph! It's a miracle I'm not telling!"). Here is the story._

**I hope this story is going too badly!**

CHAPTER TWO- Dead???????

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"**Chapter One," **Remus read. **"The Boy Who Lived."**

Sirius snickered. Oh, thank goodness! A boy who lives! Because I'm just fed up of hearing about boys who died in books.

"This is going to be a long night," Lily groaned.

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"You're wel-" Sirius began, to be interrupted by Remus.

"Don't say it," he growled.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made**

"People?" Sirius suggested.

"Chocolate chip cookies." said Peter.

"Broomsticks!" James shouted.

Lily rolled her eyes at the Marauders', minus Remus, antics. "The book _just said_ Dursley wouldn't be involved in anything strange. Broomsticks which people ride are in that category."

**drills.**

"Aw, come on!" James and Sirius shouted.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over the garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

"What a lovely couple," James commented, lounging back on the Gryffindor couch. "Imagine what their children look like!"

Lily, meanwhile, was muttering to herself. _Why do these Dursleys sound so familiar? it's just a fictional novel. Just a story._

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Unconditional love!" Sirius sang.

"Something that even Snivellus's parents can't show him," James added, sending Peter into bouts of laughter.

"Cut it out!" Remus yelled, exasperated. "Or else it's going to take years to get through this-" at this Remus flipped through the book, "332 page book!"

Sirius and James glared, but complied.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, **

"That's my future wife! I know it is!" James said, leaping up. "It's probably you, Evans."

"In your dreams. I'd rather die than marry you." Inside, though, Lily wasn't so sure. Mrs Dursley sounded too much like her own sister for her own good, and that name.... Dursley. It sounded so familiar! Lily just hoped dearly it wasn't because it was a boyfriend of her sister's.

If that was true, Lily wasn't sure what she would do. She hated James Potter with a passion, and gagged at the thought of _marrying_ him, and producing his offspring. Eurgh!

**but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"Oh, that's nice. What a way to be sisterly," Remus commented sarcastically.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"Well, I'd hope they say 'Welcome, o wonderful people!'" James remarked. "but that probably wouldn't happen. Well, then, I'd shudder right back!"

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"And we wouldn't want our son mixing with you!" James said. Lily looked at him pointedly. "_Our_ son?"

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday-**

Peter interrupted, a confused expression dawning on his face. "But... it's Thursday!"

"Tuesday in the story, Pete, about 20 or so years from now," James, explained, in such a voice you would use explaining things to a very small child.

"**On the dull gray Tuesday our story starts," **read Lupin, who was become quite aggravated with all the interruptions. ** "there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair."**

"Lovely child."

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"_My_ child better not be like that," Lily remarked, then blushed as she realized she accepted that Harry Potter was her child. "Not.... that this Harry is my child, of course, because I won't marry Potter!" she finished in a rush.

James and Sirius smirked at one another. "Give it time," Sirius and Remus would always say.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -- a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat**

"McGonagall," they agreed.

**standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive -- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"He's going cr-azy!" Sirius sang. "That's what comes of being a normal wack-job."

Peter and James laughed, but Lily tutted and Remus glared.

"That's it," he said, marking the page and snapping the book shut. "I'm shutting you up." He silenced a protesting Sirius and James with a flick of his wand.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except**

"How terrible stupid muggles are," piped up Peter, before hanging his head and submitting to the silencing charm.

**a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

Sirius and James began shouting, thankfully inaudible to the rest of the group. It was along the lines of- "Cloaks are NOT strange! You are, stupid Dursley! We are't weirdos! Come on, Remus, lift the spell! We'll be good!"

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes -- the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

"Green?" began the silent shouting again. "What about scarlet and gold!"

Lily snickered at the boys' silent ramblings at the books.

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt -- these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"He certainly isn't a complicated man," Remus muttered to Lily, who grinned. Sirius and James glared at Remus.

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swoop ing past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead**

"But the Statute of Secrecy?" Lily questioned. "Something big has to be going on."

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin.**

"The excuses Muggles will come up with to convince themselves magic's not real." Remus commented, shaking his head. He flicked his wand and lifted the Silencing Charm, for the boys had been motionless for the past few minutes, absorbed in the story.

**It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"**

"Is a wonderful handsome kid, son of the wonderful, handsome James Potter and his lovely Lily flower," James said, to be put back under the silencing charm again. Lily glared at him, fighting the blush that was blossoming on her face. _How could I blush at a stupid comment of James Potter's?_

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

"Good. We don't want to listen to you." Sirius said, and he too was silenced.

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. **

"He's the worst denier and excuse maker of all!" Remus cried. "Oh, I wouldn't want to be related to him. I wouldn't want to know him."

**He didn't blame her -- if he'd had a sister like that... **

Goodness, Lily really hoped that this was fiction, and she wasn't the Mrs Dursley's sister mentioned. Were things really this bad between her and her sister? Was she this jealous?

**but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted,**

"_That_ must have been hard for him to say."

**as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare,**

"It sounds a lot like Flitwick," Lily remarked.

**"Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!**

Remus dropped the book, and ended the spell. "Voldemort? Gone?" James said hoarsely. "Don't flinch, Wormtail."

Remus began shakily, "So he's only going to be defeated in about five more years? _Five more years_ of suffering and death?"

The whole group was silent, thinking about the seriousness of this piece of news.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"Definitely Flitwick," Sirius barked, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. Lily was hunched up, a devastated look on her face. Everyone else felt much the same. James, in a moment of bravery, reached out and patted Lily's arm comfortingly. For once, she didn't pull away.

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"We hope you're imagining, too."

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw -- and it didn't improve his mood -- was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Has to be McGonagall," Remus muttered.

**"Shoo!" said Mr Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

_That's nice of him, _Lily thought to herself. Her feeling of foreboding that she was, in fact, married to James Potter in the future were increasingly tenfold with every word Remus read.

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Shan't!"). Mr Dursley tried to act normally.**

"How many times is normal going to be said to describe the Dursleys?" James cried, exasperated. "Moony, count at the end of the chapter."

**When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern."**

"Because the gods are angry!" Sirius exclaimed in a deep voice. The rest rolled their eyes.

**The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"Nope, no chance. You'll get raining McGonagalls instead." James joked, pretending to be the weatherman.

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars!**

"Ooh, we should do that in the Great Hall, Prongs!" Sirius whispered excitedly. Remus, with his incredibly good hearing, remarked, "Don't."

"Come on, Moony," Sirius whined, "you never want to have fun anymore!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Padfoot, I gave you that prank idea yesterday. The one in which we needed the book you were supposed to look for in the library! That ring a bell?"

Sirius gave a sheepish smile, and Lily wondered what the heck these nicknames- 'Moony,' 'Wormtail,' 'Padfoot,' and 'Prongs,' were.

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early -- it's**

**not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"Yes... it means your death is coming," James moaned, in an eerie imitation of their Divination teacher.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er -- Petunia, dear -- you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

Lily jerked her head up. "Petunia?" she moaned. "That's my sister's name! Oh, no, I think I married Potter in my future! What happened?" She buried her head in her hands, while James did a quick victory dance, joined by Sirius and Peter.

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"Well, Lily flower, that's mean of your sister. Doesn't she know you're the best person in the world? Besides me?" James said.

"Of course you have to stick your ego in there, Potter. I would never go out with you, let alone marry you! I'd rather have Albus Dumbledore as my husband." Lily spat. However, James backed down, unlike retorting like Lily thought he would. He looked hurt.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

"Don't talk about Lily like that!" James growled. "Or wizards in general!"

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son -- he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"No it's not," Lily retorted. "I quite like that name."

**"Oh, yes," said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"Yeah, McGonagall's waiting for kids to come to detention," Sirius quipped.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of -- well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Well, the Potters couldn't bear if they were related to you, either," James sniffed. "Wack jobs."

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mr Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind....**

"_Now _they do," Peter laughed.

**He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on -- he yawned and turned over -- it couldn't affect them....**

"He's wrong!" Sirius sung. "Because I'm going to come after you! You can run, but you can't hide!"

**How very wrong he was.**

"That's what I just said. Stupid author."

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"It's a Slytherin! McGonagall always narrows her eyes at them!" Peter declared.

"She does that to everyone, Pete," Remus reminded him.

"Oh, yeah."

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. **

"Dumbledore, definitely," Lily remarked, and everyone nodded.

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Hah! We were right!" Sirius yelled.

Remus shushed him. "There's people sleeping upstairs! Or do you want McGonagall to give us detention, and have the book confiscated? Because any book James Potter and Sirius Black like is a mighty dangerous one."

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"I should have known that Professor McGonagall has a crush on me and has been following me around!" Peter supplied helpfully. They all laughed.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again -- the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, **

"Cool!" Sirius shouted. "I want a Put-Outer!"

**until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. **

"And professed his undying love to it." said James. There was a moment of silence, then an outburst of 'Eeews.'

**He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"HA! I was right!"

"No one thought you were wrong, Padfoot," Remus said exhaustedly.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"Ooh, Minnie, what did you do?" James and Sirius chorused.

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Why wasn't I invited?" Sirius pouted.

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"See? it's okay, Sirius, McGonagall wasn't invited either."

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no -- even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars.... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent -- I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle.**

"Hey, isn't he that Hufflepuff fourth year?"

"I don't know, Wormtail, there's several Hufflepuff fourth years."

"You know the one I mean."

**He never had much sense."**

"Oh, look, Peter, he's like you!" Sirius joked, but Lily glared at him.

"Don't be mean," she said, after turning his hair bright green.

"My hair! My precious hair!" he shrieked, while James complimented her.

"Wow, Evans, you've got a little prankster in you." Lily, to her extreme annoyance, blushed. _That's the second time! You better not be falling for him, Lily. He's a jerk._

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"ELEVEN years!" Peter whimpered.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

"She does have a point," said James, looking horrified that he and his head of house agreed on something.

**She threw a sharp**

"Sword?" James suggested.

**sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?"**

Sirius snorted. "Anyone have a sherbet lemon?"

"Actually, I do," Remus declared, fishing around in a pocket inside his robes. Here."

James and Peter broke into bouts of laughter.

**"A what?" "A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for sherbet lemons. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

Peter fidgeted at this.

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense -- for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

Peter was the only one out of the five who flinched. "I'm trying!" he replied to Sirius and James's taunts.

**Professor McGonagall flinched,**

"See? Professor McGonagall does it too!"

**but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

"Remus?" Peter asked. "Can you say 'Hollywart' instead? Please?"

Ignoring James and Sirius, who were breathless with laughter, Remus complied.

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_Hollywart_**, was frightened of."**

The whole group burst into giggles at the thought of 'Hollywart.'

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Hollywart had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too -- well -- noble to use them."**

"Are they- _flirting_?" Sirius asked, gagging. Lily giggled.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Ew! Too much information!"

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until**

"Pigs fly," James suggested. "Right, Remus?"

**Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Hollywart- **oh, I can't do this anymore. Sorry, Peter.--- _**last night**_ _**Voldemort- **_**turned up in Godric's Hollow. **

There was a pregnant pause. Finally, James shattered the silence. "That's- that's where I live. Well, not now. But I inherited it."

Remus began to read again, but the next two lines he read so shakily, before breaking down, that the other four had to snatch the book from him and read the fatal lines themselves.

**He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are -- are -- that they're -- dead. "**

The silence from earlier broke. Lily burst into tears, and miraculously let James wrap his arms around her. Sirius looked devastated and broken, a true test to how great a friend he was. He reached out to Remus, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly.

Peter sat alone on the floor, his mouth dropped open. He was deathly pale, as if just realizing something. "No, no, no, no." he muttered, rocking back and forth.

"My baby! Our baby!" Lily sobbed, thoroughly soaking James's robes. "Oh, James."

It was awhile before Remus took up the book again, and began to read through his tears. Lily was back to disliking James, which hurt him immensely. _Have to keep the facade. No, it's real, I hate James. HATE JAMES, Lily! God, I'm even calling him James! No, it's Potter. The jerk._

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

"Oh, look, they care!" James said weakly, biting back his tears.

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

Lily let out terrible shriek. "My baby! NO! That- that-----" She couldn't find the words.

Remus cast a quick 'Muffliato,' before the whole of Gryffindor came stomping down to see what was the matter.

It was a smart move, because James had turned white with rage and was hurling delicate porcelain vases across the room. "Damn you, Voldemort," he muttered.

**But -- he couldn't.**

It was silent once more, as everyone exhaled, letting out a breath of relief. James settled back down on the couch, his head in his hands. "Go on, Remus," he said bitterly.

**He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke -- and that's why he's gone.**

"Whoohoo! James! You've got a miracle kid!" Sirius cried, as an attempt to relieve the tension and cheer everyone up. Everyone smiled, however weak.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's -- it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"Of course," Sirius groaned. "I wanted to figure out how to save you guys."

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late.**

"Hagrid?" Remus questioned. Then something clicked into place. "Oh, no. Prongs, I think Dumbledore wants to- wants to-" he faltered.

**I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

"Best thing yo've said all day!" Sirius quipped.

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"WHAT!!!! My baby is not going there! They'll treat him like dung!" James cried furiously. "What's wrong with you, Dumbledore?" He rounded on Sirius. "And where are you?" he demanded.

Sirius frowned- he was at a loss of what to say. He glanced at Peter, white and shaking on the floor, at Lily, who was sobbing again, and at Remus, who looked just as lost as he felt. "I- I don't know, James."

Remus interceded for Sirius, as James looked angry enough to hit his best friend. "It's not Sirius's fault. He could be in prison, or dead, for all we know. Or Dumbledore could have refused him. And it's just as much my fault."

James sat down again, still fuming. "Go on."

**"You don't mean -- you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore -- you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son -- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"Like that'll solve everything!" Remus cried, pausing for a moment. "Sometimes I wonder about Dumbledore..."

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous -- a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future -- there will be books written about Harry -- every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Which is a great thing!" Sirius joked, in a vain attempt to get his best friend to look at him.

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! CarA you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"I-I guess Dumbledore's right," Lily said quietly, tears still staining her pale face.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes -- yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it -- wise -- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"As would we," Lily said firmly.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to -- what was that?"**

"It's me!" Sirius shouted joyfully, hoping desperately it was true.

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky -- and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Awesome!" Sirius whistled. "I want a flying motorcycle!"

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

Sirius's heart dropped as James, who had looked up hopefully as Sirius declared it was himself to the rescue, deserted Sirius on the couch to comfort Lily, his back to Sirius. Remus shot a look of concern at him, but Sirius shrugged it off.

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. **

Everyone in the common room stopped breathing. James got up and returned to where Sirius was standing nervously, his face pale. _What is wrong with me! Why did my future self betray my best friend. Even if we are no longer friends, I would owe this to him! I'm terrible. _

Sirius struggled to breathe as James stared him down coldly. So this was what Snape felt like, Sirius thought. It was horrible being on the other end of his best friend's hard gaze.

"I-- I'm sorry, Prongs. I don't know where I am. I know I'm coming, I have to be! I wouldn't let you down." Sirius pleaded to his best friend for forgiveness, but James pushed past Sirius, grabbed the Invisibility Cloak, and stalked out of the common room.

Sirius was left fighting back tears. This was serious. He had betrayed his best friend. They had never, ever, fought, not once before. He might have had squabbles with Remus and Peter, but _never_ James. They were brothers. And a betrayal like this broke his heart- the look on his friend's face!

"Co-continue, Remus," Sirius said weakly, acting like he was alright, sitting on the couch and avoiding the other's gazes.

**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir -- house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall. "Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." "Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well -- give him here, Hagrid -- we'd better get this over with."**

"Cause we _really_ needed to know that." This time, it was Remus who was trying to break the tension, at the look on Sirius's face.

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I -- could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"I take offense to that," Sirius said, confusing Lily. ("What?" she muttered to Remus.)

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it -- Lily an' James dead -- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

In the common room, too, the ones left were blinking back tears.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. **

"Yay," Sirius joked feebly. "I have a flying motorcycle. You _better_ give that back, Hagrid."

**G'night, Professor McGonagall -- Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"**

"Thank God it's over," Remus said, closing the book. "That was a long chapter. My throat hurts!"

"Yeah," Lily said, unfurling herself from the ball she had curled up in. "Let's go to bed, an-and pick it up tomorrow. Jam--James will probably be fine, Black, it's okay."

Her voice was still shaky as she murmured goodnights and disappeared up the stairs. Sirius refrained from the usual innuendos he would usually call after he retreating forms, and instead traipsed upstairs, where he would get far from a good night's sleep.

**A/N- There! That took me only a few hours. I actually think it's going to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, because they don't have the British version as an online PDF. So I tried flipping through my PS book, too see what's changed. Yeah. Didn't work out too well. It' Britlish, now. Sorry!**

**So, please please please review, because I worked hard on this. I hope you're not bored just reading the story over, because i couldn't really think of enough comments to put them everywhere. I'm tired! :)**

**Okay, bye guys! Please review! (And I'm not sure if you should expect another chapter soon. It depends how much work I have this week, and how much free time I have.)**

**Thanks for reading!**


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